


who said it first?

by flyingroses121



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: 3k words, Domestic, Fluffy, M/M, Tooth Rotting Fluff, seriously if you dont want cavities turn back now, soft, tw light gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:01:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21880633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flyingroses121/pseuds/flyingroses121
Summary: Juno wants to do something sweet for Peter. When Peter is going to be away at a job all afternoon, he takes his chance.
Relationships: Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Comments: 6
Kudos: 95





	who said it first?

**Author's Note:**

> hello PLEASE listen to the penumbra podcast you will not regret it! enjoy the fic!

Peter usually woke up before Juno. Old habits die hard, he mused as he watched his partner in the dark. The soft light of the moon and the harsh light of cars below their apartment mingled and flashed through their blinds, illuminating Juno’s sleeping face. He looked so calm while he was sleeping. Peter smiled as the light flashed once more. He took in a breath and moved to look at his clock on the table beside the bed. Six forty-eight. Later than usual.

Peter had a job later that day. His boss this time wanted to meet later, to save their, “beauty sleep”. Peter supposed he may as well get up…

He started to, but he felt a hand grab his hand. “Where the hell are you going, Nureyev?” Juno’s tired voice sounded behind him.

Peter let out a low chuckle. “No where, I’m guessing.” He got back into bed and turned to Juno, pulling the covers up over his shoulder. “Good morning, my love.” He said in a sweet, quiet tone.

Juno opened his eyes. “This is earlier than I ever want to be up. Mornings are…” he sighed softly, “rough. Dark until about eight.” He grumbled softly, closing his eyes shifting closer to Peter.

“Yes, in my experience, they are rough.” Peter instinctively wrapped his arms around Juno. It felt so natural now-a-days.

Juno hummed when he heard that. “Glad someone around here agrees with me.” He pushed his face into Peter’s chest as he let out a small laugh, his arms finding their way around his thin frame. After a moment of sweet silence, he spoke up again. “How long have you been up?”

Peter took a second to think. “An hour at most, half an hour at least.”

“Damn, Nureyev.” Juno replied almost instantly

“It’s not like I can help it. It’s… an old habit I picked up.”

“You could at least not drag me into your habits.” Juno joked lightly.

“Hey, look at me.” Peters voice was quiet, like if he spoke louder, he would ruin the moment.

Juno pushed a breath through his nose before looking up, slowly opening his eyes,

Peter couldn’t help but smile. “Juno. Every time I look at you, I am mesmerised. You’ve caught me in a trance.” He chuckled and lightly grabbed his chin, leaning down and kissing him deeply.

Juno had a bright red blush on his cheeks when they pulled away. “You really know how to make a lady blush, Peter.” He said, reaching up to take his hand. “I need to do something for you, don’t I?”

Peter laughed, lacing their fingers together. “Juno, you don’t have to do anything for me. Being here with me is enough. Living with me, letting me call you mine, and you calling me yours. That’s more than enough.”

“Peter.” Juno said, giving him a look. “I am doing something nice for you. You have a job today, right? I would be long asleep by now if you didn’t. You leave later, or else you would be up and ready by now. So, I’m going to make you dinner. Make sure to come back tonight.” Juno smiled and pressed a kiss onto his soft lips.

Peter hummed, eyebrows creased. “Really, Juno, you don’t have-”

“I’m doing it. Me and Rita have the day off, we’re going grocery shopping, and I’m cooking for you." Juno kissed him again. He found that Peter was way more willing to negotiate if he was drunk off of his kiss.

Peter took in a breath let it out slowly. “Alright, then. I guess there’s no discussion here. You’re so stubborn.” He briefly rested his forehead on top of his head. “You’re right, by the way. I have a job today, but my boss this time values their time. I won’t be leaving until noon today.”

“Ah, perfect! That’s the time I usually wake up. We can stay in bed until then.” Juno said, jovial tone and bright eyes making Peter realize light was filtering in through their window. He could see Juno a lot easier now. He was glad of it, he wanted nothing more than to just… look at his beautiful partner.

Juno’s face turned to confusion after a moment. “Peter? You still there? Did I lose you..?” He brought a hand up to his forehead to push some stray strands of hair out of his face

Peter put a hand on his. “Of course I’m still here, my dear. You won’t ever lose me. Not if I can help it.” He brought Junos hand to his lips and gently kissed every knuckle, eyes flicking to him when he got to the last one.

Juno’s expression instantly softened. “Yeah. You’re stubborn, too, you know that?”

Peter let go of his hand. “How so?” He asked.

“Well, let’s start with the face masks.”

“Oh, Juno, please, that was ages ago.”

“Two weeks isn’t ages, Nureyev! And if it is, then I have a hell of an existential crisis ahead of me.”

-

Peter got up at eleven to get ready for his job. Juno stayed in bed until eleven thirty. He walked into the bathroom while Peter was doing his makeup, one eye open, the other being brushed with a very dark powder. “If you need the restroom, you should have went when I asked.” He opened his eye and put more powder on the brush and moved on to the next one.

“No, I’m not here to use the bathroom. I don’t know why you would care, though, you’ve seen me naked.” Juno leaned on the wall behind him and crossed his arms.

Peter huffed, scrunching his nose up. “Yes, but that doesn’t mean I want to be here when you use the bathroom.” He started applying the powder to his other eye.

Juno shrugged with a hum. “I guess.” He watched Peter for a few moments. He was so meticulous when he was doing his makeup. He moved on to eyeliner, then lipstick. Dark lipstick. Juno knew he would get a facefull of that before Peter left.

He let out a satisfied sigh when he was done, capping his lipstick and smiling at his reflection. “Well, Juno? Do I look presentable?” He turned to his partner, one hand on his hip, the other bent at the elbow.

“Well, besides your wings being distant cousins, yes, you look great.”

Peter let out another huff, the hand that was in the air coming to his chest. “You wound me, Juno Steel.”

Juno closed the gap between them and hugged him, laying his head on his chest. “I was kidding. You always look amazing. You smell great, too.”

Peter wrapped his arms around Juno. “Thank you. I haven’t changed colognes since the night you met me as Rex Glass. Speaking of, that alias is making a comeback.”

“Really? I thought you were using Ransom again.”

“No, I want a completely different name for this one. I don’t want to risk even my first name.”

“This is a big one, then, huh?” The concern and fear were apparent in Juno’s voice.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back tonight for dinner.” Peter looked down at Juno with a genuine smile. Not the cocky, pissed at the world smirk. A smile.

Juno smiled back. “Good. You better.”

Peter snaked a hand around Juno to check his watch. “I have to go, love.”

“Okay.” Juno pulled back to look at Peter, eyes hard. He knew this was hard for Juno. It always was.

“Okay.” Peter nodded firmly before leaning down and kissing Juno.

Juno took a breath before letting go. He looked at his reflection to see the perfect shape of dark lipstick on his lips. He looked back up to see that Peter had left. He decided to take a shower.

-

Juno was drying off his hair when he heard hammering on his front door. Muffled sounds of “Mista Steel!” echoed through his apartment. He sighed and lifted his gaze to the sky before quickly pulling on his pants to answer.

When he opened the door, he was knocked on the forehead by Rita. “M- oh, Mista Steel! I hope that didn’t hurt too bad! Let me in.” She pushed past her boss and into the apartment.

“Rita, I-” he let out another sigh, “Rita, don’t snoop around. Peter won’t be happy if he found out you did.” He closed the door and retreated to his room to find a top.

“You know I’m not gonna upset Mista Ransom, boss!” Rita said as she stood with her hands in fists on her hips. “What’s this, Mista Steel?” Rita called as she investigated a painting hanging from the wall.

Juno barely had time to get his head through his turtleneck. He ran to Rita and grabbed her hand. “Not for touching, is what that is. Now let’s go. I have no idea how much time his job is going to take.” He pulled the rest of his sweater down.

“Well, when’d he leave?” Rita’s tone was more quiet when she asked, her and Juno moving to the door.

Juno grabbed his coat and the essentials before they got out the door. “Twelve. Idiot woke up at six in the goddamn morning for a job that doesn’t even start until noon.”

Rita snickered. “He seems like that kinda guy to do that. Did you two have a nice morning until he left? By the way, I love the lipstick.”

Juno realized the shower hadn’t gotten rid of the lipstick. “Ah, um,” he wiped a hand down his face, “yeah, we had a good morning. And the lipstick is his.”

“Oh! How wonderful!”

“More like annoying.”

They passed meaningless conversation until they got to the store. “You know what you’re gonna make, Mista Steel?” Rita asked as she grabbed a cart.

“I was thinking like… pasta of some sort.”

“Oh, delicious! What protein do you want with it?”

Juno furrowed his brows, walking into the store beside Rita. “Uh… I didn’t think about that.”

Rita huffed with a small growl. “Mista Steel!”

“Listen, Rita, I thought of this on a whim earlier, but I’m too deep to turn back now.”

“I guess. We’re gonna go with chicken. You’ll need a white sauce for that, so, you have milk, right?”

“I'm lactose intolerant.”

“Beef, then! Tomato sauce.”

They hunted for different ingredients. They couldn’t find any tomatoes- turns out the harsh Martian sand doesn’t do anything to support them, and they were experiencing a shortage. A shipment from Earth was going to take longer than expected. Beef was out of stock, too, which was weird. But, conveniently, they had chicken, and everything Juno would need to make an alfredo sauce. Juno sighed as he looked at their cart.

Rita, even though she was flicking through a magazine, sensed his discomfort. “Aw, c’mon, boss, it ain’t that bad. Besides, I’m lactose intolerant, and I eat alfredo sauce all the time. I even got you half and half instead of milk.”

Juno hummed. “Thanks, Rita. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“Still gettin’ paid overtime for this, right?”

“This is a day off.”

“Mista Steel-”

“Fine.”

-

Rita helped Juno carry his bags upstairs before parting ways. Juno closed the door and hung up his coat with a sigh. “This shouldn’t be too hard, right? It’s just food.”

He got started cooking. He looked up an easy recipe, then propped his coms up against the toaster. He started with the chicken. “What the hell is this..?” He asked quietly as he lifted the chicken breast up. “Chicken looks like this?” He shrugged and put it down on his cutting board.

He did as the recipe told him. He trimmed the fat, then cut it up into small chunks. He threw the pieces into a pan with butter, rosemary, and lemon. He then washed his hands and started the pasta.

He was waiting for the water to boil when he heard the door unlock.

Peter was home already?

Juno looked to the door with a raised eyebrow. It was taking him longer than usual to open the door. “Rex?” He called out, using the alias to be careful. “Babe, are you there?” He dried his hands off and came closer to the door.

Peter opened the door right wen Juno got there. His hair was a mess, and he was clutching at his side. “Juno! My love. Help me through the door.”

“P- babe, oh my god.” Juno grabbed onto him and closed the door before locking it and leading Peter to the couch. “What happened?” He asked, pushing his hand under the couch and pulling out a first aid kit.

“You don’t have to use the alias,” Peter started with, then continued, “it went a little sideways. I got the job done, and boss is paying me, but they… supplied me with a stab wound.” He said as Juno pulled the fabric of his shirt apart from the wound.

“Sounds so generous.” Juno scoffed and poured rubbing alcohol onto a rag. “This will burn.” He warned quickly before dabbing the wound.

Peter sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Yeah. They were… hard to work for. What are you making?” He asked, moving a hand to stroke Juno’s hair.

“Rita helped me get stuff for pasta. I’m cooking the chicken right now.” He replied. “Peter, this rag is covered in bloo-”

“Why don’t I take care of this? You go take care of dinner.” He put both hands on top of Junos.

“Peter, are you crazy? I’m not going to let you take care of your wound by yourself.” He clasped his hands.

“Why not? I’ve done it before. I’ll be there soon to help.”

Juno looked to the kitchen, then back to Peter. “For fucks sake, Nureyev.” He threw the rag on him and gave him the first aid kit before going back to the kitchen. “Call me if you need me.” He said as he washed his hands again.

“You worry about what you’re doing in there!” Peter replied.

Juno rolled his eyes with a fond smile as he stirred the chicken around and checked the water. It was boiling. He threw some salt in, then emptied a package of noodles into it. He stole glances into the living room to make sure Peter wasn’t dying. He was bandaging his wound now. He was fine, then. At least it didn’t need stitches.

He turned back to the food. Chicken looked done, so he turned the stove off and kept it there. The pasta would take a little longer. He decided to start on the sauce.

The recipe said to “use the extra juices from the chicken”, so Juno put the meat on a separate plate and used the pan to make the sauce. Peter appeared soon after he started.

“Need anything, darling?” Peter asked, leaning on the counter with his arms crossed.

“I think I’m okay. Unless you want to check on the pasta. Take a noodle out and try it.”

Peter did so, burning his hand in the process. He let out a small yelp as he threw the noodle down on the counter. “That… certainly is hot.” He commented as he shook the pain from his hand.

“No shit, babe. It just spent a few minutes in boiling hot water.” Juno was already feeling exhausted just by whisking the liquid in the pan before him.

Peter looked at Juno with concern in his eyes. “Are you okay?” He asked softly. “I’m sorry I gave you a start when I came home. The stab wound really wasn’t expected.”

Juno shook his head. “No, it’s okay.” He looked up at the recipe to ensure he was doing things right.

Peter hummed as he bit off part of the flat noodle. “This seems okay to me. Try it.” He turned Junos head to him and fed the rest to him. Juno blinked and slowly chewed. “Yeah, that’s fine. Colander’s in the sink, dump it out.” He turned back to the pan.

Peter turned to the pot. “Ah… could we, maybe…”

Juno turned to Peter with annoyed, but bright eyes. “Yeah, switch jobs. Just stir this until it thickens.” He handed the whisk to Peter before turning off the burner and grabbing hold of the pot and dumping the hot water into the sink, the noodles landing in the colander. He shook it before putting the pasta back into the pot. “How’s it going?” He asked.

“Good. It’s almost done.” Peter smiled over at Juno.

Juno smiled back. “Good.” He leaned his back on the counter and crossed his arms, looking up at the ceiling. “So… was the job okay?”

“Oh, yes. A simple heist. I got in and out of there quick.” He shrugged.

“Was the stab really from your boss? And should I be expecting a case for this heist soon?”

Peter laughed and turned off the stove. “Oh, no. No case. And yes, the stab was from my boss. They… were disappointed, somewhat. I can’t give too many details.”

“Ah.” Juno replied. “Let me get that.” Juno gently nudged Peter.

Peter stepped away, watching Juno. “You did a great job. I’m proud of you.”

Juno looked briefly to Peter as he combined his ingredients to make the final product. “Uh, thanks.”

Peter’s expression faltered for a moment. “Juno, come here.” He opened his arms.

Juno looked up at him as he mixed everything. He let the handle of the spoon clatter against the edge of the pot as he neared Peter and wrapped his arms around him, head resting on his shoulder. Peter tightened an arm around his waist and let the other get lost in his hair.

“What’s the matter, love?” Peter’s voice was gentle when he asked.

Juno only hummed.

“Juno.”

“What do you want me to say? I’m fine? Everything is great? Peter, this is the fourth stab wound you’ve come home with this week, and it’s Thursday. But that’s only this week. The first few were fine, but they’ve only gotten worse. I’m afraid I’m going to open the door and I’m going to find you dead at our doorstep.”

“You know that won’t happen.”

“But I will worry. I will worry that one day you won’t come back.”

“I will too, Juno. Both for you and for me. Sometimes, when you go do a case, and you come back in the worst mood I’ve seen from you yet, I worry I’ll never see the same Juno Steel.”

Juno huffed softly, a smile crossing his lips. “Yeah. We’re both a lot of work, huh?”

“We sure are. Want to eat?”

“Yeah.”

-

Juno did better than he had expected on the pasta. That, and they had leftovers for weeks after that. After it was all put away and the kitchen was mostly cleaned, Juno walked back into the living room with a bottle of whiskey in hand.

“Do you want some? I know whiskey isn’t really your speed.”

That damn nose scrunch again. “I will take some, Juno. I can handle strong alcohol.” He picked up a glass and held it up, flashing that smirk Juno knew so well.

He gave one right back. “Okay, then. But I’m not drinking your glass for you.” He poured a bit into his glass and sat down before pouring some for himself. “Here’s to… home?” Juno said as he held his glass up.

Peter raised his with him. “To home, then.” He took a sip and tried to not let his disgust show. Juno couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle as he took a drink.

Peter took a breath to soothe his throat as the liquor burned its way down. “So? Did you have a good day with Rita?”

“Yeah, for the most part.” Juno said, swirling the liquid in his glass. “The store was more crowded than usual. I wonder if there was another sandstorm warning somewhere close.”

“If it’s so close they have to come to Hyperion for supplies, we should be on the lookout.”

Juno shrugged. “I’ve been through worse.”

“You sure have.” Peter sucked in a breath, then downed his glass before shifting closer to Juno and wrapping his arms around his shoulders. “You make a good point.”

Juno grabbed onto his arm with a hand and leaned into him. “You didn’t like the whiskey, did you?”

“Are you kidding? It tastes like motor oil to me.”

“Thank you for at least drinking your glass.”

“Of course, Juno.”

Juno finished his glass then shifted to where Peter was on top of him. Peter was fine with this arrangement. He nestled his face into Juno’s chest, closing his eyes. “Thank you, by the way. It was very kind of you to do that for me.”

“Pull you on top of me? Anytime, babe.”

Peter laughed and shook his head. “I meant making me dinner. Putting up with another stab wound.”

“Why wouldn’t I? I love you.”

Peter sat up and looked at Juno. “What?”

Juno raised an eyebrow. “I love you?”

Peter pursed his lips and nodded slowly. “I… I love you, too.”

Juno let out a breath in a mock laugh. “Why are you so surprised?”

“I just… didn’t think you would be the one to say it first.”

“Well…” Juno moved to sit up a bit, arms still loose around Peter’s waist, “I’m just afraid I’ll never get to say it.”

Peter’s forehead creased with concern, a hand traveling to Junos face to cup his cheek. “Juno, you-”

“You’re just as scared as I am, Peter. I saw your face when I came home with that concussion. When I came home with that… fucking shoulder wound, do you remember that one? The one I had to go to the hospital for?”

“How could I forget?” His voice was quiet when he spoke.

Juno decided he should soften his tone. “I’m just saying… we never know what’s going to happen in our line of work. Anything can happen, and I wanted to tell you how I felt before I got the news you weren’t coming back.”

“You say that like it’s inevitable. One of us not coming back. You should have more faith in us, Juno.” He ran his thumb gently along his cheekbone.

Juno took in a shaky breath, tears filling his eye. “Yeah, well…” he put a hand on top of Peters and turned in to it as a tear fell, “it’s hard.” He swallowed to get rid of the knot in his throat. “It’s just hard to come home hurt, and even harder to see you hurt.”

“I can say the same.” Peter wiped away his tears before turning his face back to look at him. “I’m glad you were able to tell me how you feel, no matter the circumstance.”

“Yeah? It was nice to get it off my chest.” Juno allowed a small smile to creep onto his face.

Peter laughed and pressed his forehead to Junos. “Yeah.” He closed the rest of the gap between them and kissed him. A soft, lingering kiss. The kind you don’t want to break from, but the kind that you know you can break from safely. The person you love will still be on the other side when you finally do break away.


End file.
